Acceptance
by TheDoctorCT-21-0408
Summary: Fives is shocked when Echo shows up at the barracks one day. Something about him is...different.


**Hello! Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! **

**For the longest time (aka since March), I've wanted to write something with the newly resurected Echo and Fives. I wanted them to meet face-to-face and have a confrontation, and I came up with this. It's AU- takes place some time after Umbara, and before the Ringo Vinda campaign.**

* * *

"Fives! Guess what?"

The ARC set his datapad on the bunk, and looked up at his brother. "Yes?"

"There's a visitor here!" Tup hissed excitedly, grabbing Fives' forearm. He nearly fell on his face as the younger clone pulled him off the bunk and onto his feet. "A commando who just came from Kamino."

"I'm a commando," said Fives, annoyed by the disturbance of his downtime. "Advance Recon-"

"I heard he was experimental." Tup let go of Fives. "And that he wants to meet us."

"Then let's go meet him." Fives shrugged, feeling the weightlessness of his shoulders. With only a set of standard issue fatigues to wear, it just wasn't the same as the heavy armor he wore on the battlefield. With the extra ARC trooper gear, he was certainly bulkier than the rest of the men. On leave, however, he was naked without it.

Tup led him out of the room, and into the small corridors of the barracks. They were empty, missing the stragglers of clones that had nothing else to do but wander. They were probably meeting the commando.

"Where is he?" Fives inquired, brushing a dirt clod from his sleeve.

"In the mess hall." Tup pointed ahead to the wide-open doors. Inside, a large circle of men filled the mess with their loud chatter. Closer to the doors was Captain Rex. The man was cheerful, yet something about him seemed off.

"Captain!" Fives waved at him to get his attention. Rex spotted the two men, and made room for them. Once they'd safely gotten inside the mess, he turned to Fives. "You might want to wait back here a while longer."

Fives remained in his spot, as he was unwilling to move anyway. Tup shoved his way through the crowd, disappearing amongst the red fatigues and black bodygloves. Rex gently pulled Fives back into the safety of the doorway, motioning for another of his men to come forth. "Bring him back here," he whispered, and the trooper darted off, into the crowd.

"Why do I have to wait?"

"You'll see," Rex said, with a hint of a laugh. "Oh, he's been very eager to meet you."

"Who?" Fives didn't go unanswered for long. The trooper returned, with a strangely-armored clone in tow. The kama and mini-pauldrons identified him as a higher ranking official, though the design was quite different. His helmet was tucked under one arm, which meant that his face was exposed. His face...

Fives jumped, clearly startled by the dark box-like object that circled the back of his head. No hair, of course. As the clone came closer, his tired expression changed to that of excitement. "Fives? Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me." he responded, folding his arms over his chest. To Rex, he whispered "Does he know me?"

The clone rushed forward, grabbing Fives and pulling him into a tight embrace. The ARC gasped, as he was squeezed around the middle. "I never thought I'd see you again, vod."

Fives managed to free his hands, and tugged at the arms trapping him in the embrace. They weren't armor plated, rather covered with a silvery substance that was harder

than plastoid itself. Cybernetics, Fives realized with a chill.

He was released from the hug, and it was back to business. "Who are you?" Fives demanded, backing away from the clone - no, cyborg.

"CT-21-0408."

"No," he gasped, as a shard of pain sliced through his heart.

"I'm your brother. Echo." The clone gave him a smile. "Don't you remember me?"

"NO!" Fives' shout stopped all activity in the mess. The occupants turned to look at him, several pairs of eyes focused on the scared and upset ARC. "You can't be Echo! He is dead!"

Rex stepped forward, reassuringly grasping the shoulder of the Echo-impostor. "He is Echo, Fives. Captain's honor."

"Prove it!" Fives demanded. He knew he was causing a stir, but he didn't care. No one would get away with imposing as his long-dead brother. No one.

"When we were still cadets, you told me that you liked General Ti."

A large portion of the mess burst into laughter. Fives huffed in annoyance, glaring at the impostor. Indeed, Echo had been the only soul to know about those feelings. Unless they'd been eavesdropped on, there couldn't be any other explanation.

Echo wasn't finished yet. "On Rishi Station, you were planning to dare Hevy to prank the sergeant. When we joined the 501st, you wanted to replace the captain's caf with mud."

Rex angrily cleared his throat and gave Fives the death look.

"In ARC training, you were shot and I tended to you-"

Fives held up his hands in surrender. "That's enough."

"Fives, it's me." Echo came forward again. "Brother, I-"

Fives ducked out from under the second embrace, and bolted from the mess. He ran down corridors, skidding around corners, unaware of where he was going. At one point, he smacked into a wayward medic. Syringes flew everywhere as the medic began to fuss. Fives fled from the scene, unaware that he'd just collided with Kix.

Eventually, he came to the entrance of the barracks. He darted out into the Coruscant evening, just in time to catch a glimpse of the setting sun. The sky was bathed in deep oranges and yellows, a masterpiece of colors. Small dots zipped by in diagonal lines, the ongoing flow of speeder traffic.

And the best part? Shadows.

Fives vaulted off the stairs, and squeezed through a row of crates until he was leaning against the wall of the barracks. A large statue sat in front of his little corner, providing more shade, and a vision blockade. If he were lucky, they wouldn't look for him back here.

In the privacy of the corner, Fives pulled his knees to his chest, and began to sob.

* * *

By the time Fives had managed to calm down, the sun was set. The sky was now an inky blue, with twinkling white dots of stars. The speeders were only teeny bright pinpricks in the distance, shrouded by the dark atmosphere.

"You think he could be out here?"

"Yeah. He likes this sort of hiding place." Two clone voices, interrupting the peace and quiet of the outdoors. "Fives!"

Fives flattened himself against the wall, mentally wishing for the voices to go back inside.

"Fives! Are you out here?"

"Let's check inside again."

"I'll wait out here." A third voice. He wasn't so lucky after all. The owners of the other two voices disappeared, leaving Fives and whomever was out there to wait for him.

Fives reckoned it was time to either find a new hiding place, or turn himself in. Either way, he'd be in trouble for running off like that. Perhaps, if Rex were to punish him, he wouldn't have to face Echo.

"There you are, Fives." A dark silhouette stood between the statue and the stairway. A small red, blinking light appeared by what must've been a head. Fives shuffled to the side, holding his hand out in warning. "Stay away from me!"

"Fives, please!" the silhouette begged. "I want to talk to you!"

"Get out of here, Echo!"

"Fives!" The voice rose to a sob. "You have no idea what I've been through! What I've gone through to come here, and see you!"

Fives sighed in exasperation. "Will you leave right after you're finished?"

"Yes!"

"Then come on in."

The cyborg clone slipped into the hiding place, and settled on the ground at the ARC's side. Once there, he began his story.

"I woke up six months ago, alive, and surrounded by THEM. They wanted to operate on me, and experiment with my body." Echo shivered, and it wasn't from the cool air. "The next time I woke up, I had new limbs. Fives, I was so scared. I thought they were turning me into a droid." he shivered again. "Then they told me about my head. I have to wear this," he gestured to the boxy object on the back of his head, "or my brain won't function properly." Echo paused to take a breath of air.

"There was a possibility that I might not make it. There were higher odds that I'd die from surgery, or the limbs. All I could think about was seeing you again."

Fives blinked, hard. He thought his eyes were starting to water.

"I pulled through their operations. They had to help me with adapting to my legs, and it hurt. It didn't hurt as much as knowing that you believed I was dead. I only wanted to find you and tell you that I was okay." Echo sniffed, and Fives swore he saw a tear on his face. "I was even afraid that you would've forgotten about me, or replaced me-"

"Echo." Fives grabbed his shoulders, cutting his brother off. "I NEVER replaced you."

The other clone dipped his head. "You've already rejected me."

And it was true. Fives, presented with his long-dead brother, had simply run away. He'd continued to deny the fact that Echo was alive, convincing himself that it was all a big hoax. And wanting to avoid him for the rest of his visit definitely sounded like rejection. The entirety of his actions were silly. Here was Echo, who'd been his closest brother and friend! He should be spending quality time with his vod, not running away like a di'kut.

"I won't reject you any more," Fives decided, forming a light grin. Echo still wasn't convinced, however. He scooted closer, seemingly calmer, until he sat directly in front of Fives. The other raised an eyebrow in question.

A sear of pain jolted through his system, coming from his hand. Echo was lightly fingering a wound, a souvenir from the 501st's latest mission. It had reopened at some point during the day, now coated with a thin layer of dry blood.

"You're hurt."

"Mission to Christophsis. There's so much broken glass there, it was hard NOT to get hurt." Fives explained, with a grimace. The silver fingers returned to his wound, with a small bandage roll. "Where did you get that?"

"Kix gave it to me." With gentle ease, Echo wrapped the bandage around his hand. Once he was satisfied with the amount of bandage applied to the wound, he tore it off the roll. It wasn't too difficult, for the cybernetic additions gave him extra strength. Fives watched on, disgusted by what all had been done to his brother.

As he finished tying the bandage to the hand, he held it up to eye level for inspection. "I may have changed, brother, but I am still Echo."

Apparently he'd learned to read body language during his recovery. Fives mentally scolded himself for letting his discomfort show. "I know."

"Can you accept me for who I am, Fives?" Echo murmured, pressing on the bandage. Fives winced at the pressure of the cybernetic appendage, but made no move to reveal pain. It would only hurt Echo a lot more. "Please, ner vod. You're all I have left."

That wasn't true. Echo had Captain Rex and Jesse. Even Commander Cody was an important part of the trooper's life. Echo could survive without him.

Fives groaned at his inward selfishness. When Echo was going through those operations, did he think of Rex? When he was learning to walk again, did he remember Cody? When he saw his new appearance, did he cry for Jesse? No. He'd kept the one thing close to him, and used it as motivation to keep moving. In fact, Fives was part of the reason for Echo's survival.

How could he turn his brother away?

Fives looked into the saddened golden eyes, and retracted his hand out of the metal hold. He reached out, and pulled Echo in for a hug. "Of course I will, vod."

The headband bumped against his cheek, leaving a small bruise. Fives didn't take notice. He held his brother, tracing soothing circles on his back.

"I missed you," Echo whispered.

"I missed you." Fives responded, pulling back with a lighthearted expression. "We've got a lot of catching up to do."

"The curfew, Fives. We're supposed to be in our bunks sleeping. Can't it wait?" There was no mistaking the laughter in Echo's voice.

"Nah," Fives chuckled, stretching his sore arms. "We can stay up all night. I'll tell you all about our new reg manuals."

"Really?" Echo picked up at his two favorite words.

_You haven't changed one bit, Echo_. "Of course. While we're at it, we can get a midnight snack."

"What if Rex catches us?"

Fives had a mischievous spark to his eyes. "We run."

* * *

**And the Fred and George of the Clone Wars spend the rest of Echo's visit pranking the others, having fun, and catching up on their lives. **

**Thanks for reading! Dropping a review would be nice, but no flames, please. **


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